While Asia has enjoyed strong economic growth in the past 3 decades, many countries in the region are still confronted with significant poverty. Growing biodiesel feedstock provides the opportunity for these nations to enjoy economic improvements via the enhancement of their agricultural industries. Although growing quickly, demand for bio-diesel in Asia remains relatively low: in 2005, consumption of biodiesel was roughly 100,000 Mt compared with total consumption of fossil fuel of more than 2 billion Mt.

Across the region, governments are beginning to focus on biofuels. In India, the govern-ment has introduced programs to promote biodiesel development and production, and is mandating blending of biodiesel with petroleum diesel at levels of 5% (equivalent to demand of 2.5 Mt), increasing to 20% by 2020 (16 Mt). In the Philippines, the government has mandated all government vehicles to use a 1–2% biodiesel blend. In Thailand, the government has legislated a 10% biodiesel blend to be introduced nationally from 2012 and there are proposals to increase the target to 20%, and the Thai Ministry of Energy is now actively investigating the creation of a national biodiesel industry. Elsewhere, there are strong mandates to increase the production of biofuels across the region, including in China, Burma and Vietnam, with most countries concentrating on Jatropha. Still, Asia’s potential for biofuel production is rather limited.